Fix Unhealthy Voice Behaviors

Vocal Image & Unhealthy Voice Behaviors

A good voice coach can diagnose your specific, unhealthy
voice behaviors which undercut your voice endurance or your vocal image.
Most of the examples on this page are a bit extreme. If your voice
is sore, hoarse, and/or tired at the end of the day, OR if you don't
like the way your voice sounds, chances are that you have muliple behaviors
that could use correction.

A good voice coach will help you to replace your unhealthy
voice behaviors with healthy voice behaviors so that speaking (and
singing) are strain-free... so that your vocal image is vibrant, compelling,
and a pleasure to listen to.

Unhealthy behaviors include:

In the 2010 film, The King’s Speech, Geoffrey Rush as voice coach Lionel Logue works with Colin Firth as King George VI of England to overcome George’s stuttering problem.

Forcing your voice

Forcing, or exerting excessive force on the larynx (voice box)
will cause hoarseness, loss of voice, and could result in serious
problems such as polyps or nodules.

In the audio clip,
Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in Elia Kazan’s
1951 classic film A
Streetcar Named Desire visibly forces his voice
to suggest his character’s drunken desperation and animalistic
nature.

Voice coaching can teach you:

To support your speaking, singing,
or yelling with a strong column of air pushed out by your
abdominal muscles—so you can achieve loudness for public
speaking and stage work without straining and exerting force
on the larynx.

Audio Clip:Forcing

Tightening your throat

When you habitually tighten your throat while speaking, singing,
or yelling you can cause vocal tiredness, hoarseness, loss of
voice. A tight throat also presents a poor vocal image—it
sounds uptight and/or strained—as well. Many people who
tighten their throats force their voices as well.

The audio clip features the vocal
wizardry of the late Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc was
able to put on vocal “bad habits” which would help
characterize his creations for the Warner Brothers “Looney
Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies.” In this example,
Marvin Martian speaks through a perpetually tight
throat. Perhaps the mouthless Martian could only
eek out speech by means of his throat...

Voice coaching can teach you:

To keep your throat relaxed in speaking,
singing, or yelling—so you can achieve a rich, “open” quality

Audio Clip:Tight Throat

Limiting your jaw

When you limit the movement of your jaw when speaking
or singing you present a poor vocal image, and in many cases,
look silly as well. Your voice will lack vibrancy and you may
be difficult to understand. Oftentimes, people “compensate” for
the lack of vibrancy in the voice by exerting pressure from the
larynx (see forcing, above).

In the audio clip, Humphrey Bogart barely moved his
jaw as he delivered this classic line as “hard
boiled” detective Philip Marlowe in Howard Hawks’ 1943
classic, The Big Sleep. In this instance,
the lack of jaw movement only enhances the character's cynicism.

Voice coaching can teach you:

To move your jaw generously as you
speak or sing—so that your voice is literally louder
and richer

Audio Clip: Limited Jaw

Speaking too low

When you speak in an artificially low pitch
range you might think that your voice sounds “authoritative” and “mature.”
In reality the image you're projecting is of a dull, strained,
and sometimes “gravelly” sounding voice. Maintaining
an artificially low pitch puts a strain on the larynx and could
cause nodules.

In the audio clip, we don’t want to pick on Martha Stewart,
but she is a well-known personality with a very familiar voice.
She tends to speak in a pitch range that is much too low for
her.

Note the “gravelly” sound in her voice, especially
as the clip begins. At one point, the gravelly sound disappears--and
her pitch is higher.

Voice coaching can teach you:

To speak in the pitch range which
is appropriate for your voice, i.e., the pitch range which
is physiologically friendly to your voice—so that your
voice will sound vibrant, alive, and compelling.

Audio Clip: Speaking too Low

More benefits of vocal image consulting:

In addition to coaching healthy voice use, a good voice coach also
helps people who want to:

Overcome lisps or other mispronounced sounds
(like l, r, ch, or sh)

Modify an accent

Use a less rapid rate of speech

Mispronounced sounds, unwanted accents, or an excessive rate of
speech can interfere with career aspirations for acting, singing,
broadcasting, public relations, sales and marketing, and more. It
is entirely possible to overcome mispronounced sounds, modify an
accent or slow down rapid speech rate in adulthood, as many of Ms.
Scott’s former clients have done.